Recognizing Medina's carefully modulated voice, I lingered to adjust my cravat with an extra touch. When I entered, the Lieutenant was in the midst of a reply to some remark by the aide: "—Therefore, Mr. Robinson and I have considered ourselves at liberty to discuss what we pleased, and as we pleased."
Medina met my half bow with a scowl.
"May I inquire the purpose of our distinguished guest's presence with us?" I asked.
"He brings word from the Governor-General that it is high time we put on muzzles," replied Pike, with one of his rare flashes of anger.
"Por Dios!" I mocked. "Can it be Don Nimesio Salcedo does not admire our teeth?"
"Were I His Excellency," growled Medina, "certain teeth would be gnawing crusts in the calabozo."
"But as it is, Lieutenant de Gonzales y Medina comes as an aide in the service of His Excellency," suggested Walker.
The hint was sufficient to smooth Medina's ruffled front. He fixed his gaze upon Pike, and addressed him with the most formal politeness: "Then you admit, señor, that yourself and Señor Robinson have persistently and deliberately inculcated and disseminated republican principles throughout the period of your presence in New Spain?"
"It is true," replied Pike. "We came to Chihuahua at the insistence of His Excellency, yet have been assured that we are not to regard ourselves as prisoners. Why, then, should we not discuss topics of world-wide interest with the same freedom we should enjoy in our own country?"
"Lieutenant Pike overlooks the delicacy of his situation."